204 research outputs found
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Francesca Bertini
No full textFrancesca Bertini was an extremely careful guardian of her image and legacy throughout her whole life. A major star of the international silent screen, she has recounted her hugely successful career in different autobiographic writings and interventions. An invaluable source of information for the history of Italian cinema, these documents are notoriously reticent—and sometimes unreliable—about certain personal details of her life. For example, she never revealed to have been first registered in 1892 at an orphanage in Florence as Elena Taddei, the daughter of Adelina di Venanzio Fratiglioni, a single mother and possibly a stage actress (Jandelli 2006, 31-2). While many sources indicate her first surname to be Seracini, the only concrete information we have about her acquired identity is that she became Elena Vitiello in 1910, when her mother married Arturo Vitiello, a Neapolitan propman or furniture dealer. Bertini was introduced to the sprightly Neapolitan theatrical milieu at an early age. She got her first, supporting role on stage when she was just seventeen, in the widely acclaimed 1909 production of “Assunta Spina”—an intense southern melodrama by reputed author Salvatore Di Giacomo. One of the most representative texts of the new Neapolitan popular theater, “Assunta Spina” was later transposed on screen by Bertini in 1915. The final result is still regarded as one of the masterpieces of Italian silent cinema and an emblematic example of Verist cinema. By 1915, Bertini had already been cast in more than 50 films, including many one and two-reel historical reconstructions and a few features. The following years saw her continuing to grow in popularity, with her films gaining huge acclaim wherever they were presented, from Europe to Latin America and from Russia to the United States
The FUP Credibility: a user satisfaction survey
No full textThis research deals with electronic publishing contemporary academic context. In particular the focus of the research is to verify the degree of credibility of Firenze University Press (FUP), academic electronic press project of the University of Florence, investigating its users’ perceptions and opinions. This survey was motivated by the need of FUP to develop a strategy focused to rationalise resources, responding to users requirements. Survey investigated mainly two categories of FUP user: professors as customers, authors (or potential authors) and students, as customers. Mixed method have adopted to draw the survey model, that combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, use both of them. Sample survey methodology have been used to obtain a picture of the general trend of faculty of the University of Florence, by selecting and measuring a sample from the whole population. Research have been directed to a sample of ‘electronically oriented’ users, those who have no prides towards Internet and email as information and communication tools and let personal email to be visible on the University website. On the basis of data and opinions gathered emerged:
1. high percent of user satisfaction;
2. promotional factors:
Primary
- high visibility
- copyright guarantee
Secondary
- speediness
- easiness
- extended access;
3. recommendations:
a) Activity of promotion and growth of visibility
b) Collaboration with commercial publishers, other University Presses
c) Production scheme
d) Editing
e) Access and sellin
Understanding and Preventing Suicide: The Development of Self-Destructive Patterns and Ways to Alter Them
No full textEvery 18 minutes, there is a suicide attempt somewhere in the United States, with some 30,000 of those resulting in completed suicide each year. Worldwide, there are more than 1 million suicides annually. We know the basic facts: Most of the people were depressed or suffered another mental illness, and many were facing stressful life events with which they could not cope. But is there no way to prevent the tragedy? Author Kristine Bertini, a clinical psychologist, says one of the most effective means may be to understand first how suicidal tendencies and thinking develop, how environment, biology, culture, and societal factors all play a role in predisposing some people to give up hope and see death as the only way to end their suffering. In this book, Bertini explains the development of suicidal thinking and, through patient vignettes, illustrates the ways this thinking develops. She also describes and illustrates signals friends and loved ones as well as professionals can watch for pointing to such thinking, which may be kept secretive by the person at risk, as well as approaches that can be used to alter tendencies and thinking for the person at risk.https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/facbooks/1041/thumbnail.jp
WARING DECOMPOSITIONS AND IDENTIFIABILITY VIA BERTINI AND MACAULAY2 SOFTWARE
No full textThis paper arises partially from the conference \Waringdecompositions and identiability via Bertini and Macaulay2 softwares", given bythe author during the fourteenth International conference on Eective Methods inAlgebraic Geometry - MEGA 2017 held at the Castle of Nice University, campusValrose, in Nice (France), June 12-16 2017. The author would like to thank all themembers of the committees for this interesting and stimulating opportunity. Thisresearch was partially supported by the Italian GNSAGA-INDAM, by the ItalianPRIN2015 - Geometry of Algebraic Varieties (B16J15002000005) and by the Italian\Progetto strategico di ricerca di base Anno 2014 - prof. Giorgio Ottaviani" of theUniversity of Florence.International audienceStarting from our previous papers [AGMO] and [ABC], we prove the existence of a non-empty Euclidean open subset whose elements are polynomial vectors with 4 components, in 3 variables, degrees, respectively, 2, 3, 3, 3 and rank 6, which are not identifiable over C but are identifiable over R. This result has been obtained via computer-aided procedures suitably adapted to investigate the number of Waring decompositions for general polynomial vectors over the fields of complex and real numbers. Furthermore, by means of the Hessian criterion ([COV]), we prove identifiability over C for polynomial vectors in many cases of sub-generic rank
Un'utopia fertile. Gianni Bertini e la mec-Art
No full textThe essay analyzes Gianni bertini's contribution to the definition and development of mec-art. Through a deep research into archive and photographic materials, the author reconstructed the peculiar techniques used by the artist, as well as several of his iconographic sources. After introducing mec-art and how its inception corresponded to Bertini's return to pop-like iconic materials, the essay addresses a few aspects of the artist's mec career: the relationship with serialization and the creation of variants; the imagery and the most recurring themes (considered in their historical development); the main exhibitions featuring Bertini's mec-art work; the continuous presence of mec-art in the following phases of the artist's career
Corrigendum to âResponse to: Mitochondrial neuropathy affects peripheral and cranial nerves and is primary or secondary or bothâ [Neuromuscular Disorders 26/8 (2016) 549](S0960896616302899)(10.1016/j.nmd.2016.06.007)
No full textThe authors regret that the order of the first and last names was listed incorrectly in the above letter. The correct order for the authors' names is: Michelangelo Mancuso, Daniele Orsucci, Corrado Angelini, Enrico Bertini, Claudio Bruno, Valerio Carelli, Giacomo P. Comi, Massimiliano Filosto, Costanza Lamperti, Maurizio Moggio, Tiziana Mongini, Isabella Moroni, Paola Tonin, Antonio Toscano, Gabriele Siciliano, on behalf of the Nation-wide Italian Collaborative Network of Mitochondrial Diseases. Moreover, as this was a letter, only the affiliation of the corresponding author (M. Mancuso) was given. The corresponding author's address is not the affiliation for all other authors except for Daniele Orsucci and Gabriele Siciliano who share the same affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Neurological Institute, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused
Influencing the queue configuration to increase bicycle jam density and discharge rate: An experimental study on a single path
No full textCongestion in bicycle traffic is a daily occurrence at many urban intersections. It is known that a higher density in the queue leads to a higher discharge rate. In theory, higher jam densities than those currently observed in practice are feasible. This leads to our hypothesis that the delay at intersections can be further reduced when cyclists are encouraged to queue up closer together. To explore this option, we carried out an experiment in which the queue configuration was influenced to increase the jam density. This paper presents ways to increase the queuing density, up to twice the density found without instructions. Results show that increasing the jam density does indeed increase the queue discharge rate; this also holds for jam density values that exceed those observed in normal queuing conditions. The efficiency of the queue discharge process, captured by the discharge rate, was found to increase by 40% when cyclists queue up closely together. Qualitative comparison of the queuing positions and discharge patterns showed that the discharge sequence is largely determined by the queuing position, and that cyclists keep a distance from each other in both time and space during the queue discharge phase. When applied in practice, these findings can be used to update the signal length and green phases for all traffic, thereby reducing congestion in urban areas.Transport and PlanningTransport and Plannin
Data fusion solutions to compute performance measures for urban arterials
No full textOne of the key problems faced by traffic management operators of large urban traffic networks is the lack of sufficient data to compute performance indicators. These indicators, such as travel time, queue length, loss hours, total time spent, are useful for both offline evaluation purposes, as well as online traffic control applications. In the latter case, such data is particularly of use in coordination algorithms that require information on the number of vehicles present or queuing in certain areas. This information in turn is used for example to assess the amount of buffer space available to temporarily store or reroute vehicles from more densely used parts of the network. Computing the amount of vehicles present or queuing in a certain area requires, of course, counting the number of vehicles that enter or exit that area. In this extended abstract we show how through fusing vehicle counts and travel times (measured by any means available), the well-known drift-error can be reduced to virtually zero. In the complete paper we show how this algorithm fits in a wider suite of data fusion tools to compute urban traffic performance indicators on the basis of multiple sources of dataTransport and PlanningCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Fatigue investigation at high load ratio R of a quenched and tempered chromium molybdenum steel
No full textThe fatigue behavior at high number of cycles in elastic-plastic field of quenched and tempered carbon chromium steel was experimentally investigated for high performance reciprocating compressors application. Fatigue tests on un-notched specimens were performed both under load and strain controls, by imposing different levels of stress/strain and for each of them different values of stress ratios R, especially high values. Stress and strain trends have been monitored, during the fatigue life, and either ratcheting or relaxation, respectively, was evident. The stress control tests have resulted into fatigue fractures only for low values of R with significant ratcheting and an increasing rate during the final part of the test, thus the fracture could be considered as a synergy The fatigue behavior at high number of cycles in elastic-plastic field of quenched and tempered carbon chromium steel was experimentally investigated for high performance reciprocating compressors application. Fatigue tests on un-notched specimens were performed both under load and strain controls, by imposing different levels of stress/strain and for each of them different values of stress ratios R, especially high values. Stress and strain trends have been monitored, during the fatigue life, and either ratcheting or relaxation, respectively, was evident. The stress control tests have resulted into fatigue fractures only for low values of R with significant ratcheting and an increasing rate during the final part of the test, thus the fracture could be considered as a synergy between fatigue damage and plastic failure. On the contrary, the ratcheting stabilized for high values of R and the tests were finalized without any fracture. Within an intermediate region, for medium/high values of R, a minor ratcheting and the fracture transition have been found. Similarly, for the tests under strain control, low values of R showed fatigue fractures despite a considerable relaxation, conversely for high values of R, the relaxation was limited without any fracture. After reporting the tests on the Haigh plane, the Smith-Watson-Topper equation (SWT) provided the best prediction of the fatigue strength, at least until the intersection with the ultimate stress line, both under stress and strain control loadings. The cyclic behavior of the material was then investigated through several static and cyclic tests on plain specimens. A kinematic hardening Chaboche model, with three parameter couples, was proposed and the values of these parameters derived and discussed. Finally, other tests have been conducted on notched specimens with C geometry and blunt radius, again at high R values. FE analysis allowed the prediction of the stress evolution during the loading cycling, implementing the Chaboche model, and observing a combined effect of ratcheting and relaxation at the notch tip. The stabilized stresses were finally reported on the Haigh diagram and the results were found in agreement with the plain specimen fatigue line
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